Exactly 10 years ago, on this very date, 29th March, Australian batsman, David Warner, one of the best in the current times of cricket scored his first-ever century in the T20 format of cricket and told the world of what was coming.
In the 2nd year of his IPL (Indian Premier League) career, he was signed by the Delhi Daredevils (DD) which is now Delhi Capitals. His debut season of the IPL, in 2009, did no go well as he could only manage to score 163 runs in a total of 7 innings with an average of 23.28 which was not at par with his potential. In IPL 2009 he only managed to score 1 half-century.
However, in 2010, Warner was keen on redeeming himself and set the record straight.
In the 7th match of the season for the Delhi based franchise and the 4th for Warner, the Australian batsman as he was not part of the playing 11 for the first 3 matches, in the other 3 he only scored 96 runs with 1 half-century against Deccan Chargers, being on track to spend this season just as the last one if he did not take control of things.
However, on that day Warner managed to become a horror for the bowlers.
Also Read: List Of 10 Best IPL Matches To Keep You Entertained As IPL Got Postponed
Even though we cannot exactly say that Warner had a great season in IPL 2010 after he scoring his first century, he certainly claimed the title of the most feared batsman in the world of cricket. For the record, he is still the highest run-scorer amongst all of the foreign players with 4,706 runs which includes 4 centuries.
Let us see what happened on that day which, we are sure of, would still be one of the best days of Warner’s career.
Delhi Daredevils (DD) Vs Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), 29th March, IPL 2010
The Delhi based franchise of the IPL took on the KKR in what was the 26th match of the third edition of the IPL at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium which has now been renamed to Arun Jaitelf Stadium. This was the 7th match for DD and only 4th for David Warner as he did not play the 1stthree matches for the team.
Both the teams were eyeing for the wins they both had won 3/6 matches played so far each.
The Delhi team won the toss and elected to set a target for KKR on the pitch which was assumed to become spinner friendly as the game went forward. Both Virender Sehwag and David Warner formed an explosive opening for the Delhi team while Chris Gayle bowled the first over for KKR.
Off the first two deliveries, Sehwag smashed two deliveries, showing that he was serious, however, at the last ball of the over, he was stumped by Wriddhiman Saha.
Warner, however, continues his assault even when his side kept losing wickets from the other end. After the end of just 3 overs, DD stood at 38 runs for a loss of 3 wickets which both Dinesh Karthik and their captain Gautam Gambhir been showed back the way to their stands.
In the middle order, Paul Collingwood joined warner and together they scored 128 runs, while Warner was smashing the bowlers left and right, Collingwood took the role of making sure Warner remains on strike as much as possible.
The duo was hammering the bowlers of KKR as in 6 overs bowled by Ajit Agarkar, Charl Langeveldt, and Ishant Sharma they had conceded 78 runs.
When Collingwood was dismissed on the 2nd ball of the final over of DD’s innings by Charl Langeveldt which was helped by David Hussey wth a catch, DD had already put 166 runs on board. Kedar Jadhav, the last ball of the innings, and the 1st delivery he faced were smashed for a boundary.
After the innings, DD had put up 177 runs on the scoreboard for a loss of 4 wickets, while David Warner scored 107 not out in 69 balls and smashed 9 boundaries and 5 sixes.
KKR did put up a good fight and scored 137 runs but their hopes were cut short by the bowling side of DD as both Andrew McDonald and Umesh Yadav took 2 wickets each. DD won the match by 40 runs.
Though the DD bowling side worked their charm, the Man of the Match was given to David Warner for his aggressive innings who single-handedly took DD to reach such a high score.
At the post-match presentation, David Warner acknowledged the role of his teammates especially Collingwood.
He said, “I just assessed the conditions and backed myself. I had to knuckle down after six overs and stay in the middle. Anywhere between 160-180 was going to be a good total. Collingwood was perfect, he played terrifically and assessed the conditions well.”
Gambhir, who was the captain of Delhi Daredevils, asserted that it was one of the best innings he had ever hoped for given the nature of the track
Gambhir said, “Warner’s was one of the best innings I have seen, especially on this track. 180 was always a very good total. We know how to play on such a track, it’s difficult for a new team to adjust to this pitch. Umesh has good pace, he has a good future.”
Today, Warner is one of the most feared batsmen in the World of Cricket, especially when it comes to the shorter formats. He currently ranks 6th on the ICC rankings for best ODI batsmen in the world while he ranks 18th for the T20 rankings.
